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Soda Intake Could Factor into Increased Risk of Kidney Damage

Anyone concerned with their long-term health might want to rule out, or at least limit, the intake of sugary sodas.

Studies completed with the help of approximately 12,000 employees at the Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine in Japan gauged how many soft drinks were included in daily diets.

Eleven percent of employees that participated in the study confessed to at least two sodas a day and showed protein in their urine three years after the initial survey.

Just over eight percent showed protein in their urine even though they drank no soda on a routine basis, less than one percent drop when compared to nine percent of the employees who drank one soda a day and had protein in their urine.

Dr. Orlando Gutierrez, a kidney specialist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham told the U.S. National Library of Medicine that protein in the urine can carry dangerous health consequences.

“We now understand that protein in the urine may be a really early marker for heart disease, stroke and heart failure,” he said. “We can assume that this is a healthy population, so I think the results are relative to healthier people, not just those with kidney disease.”

A separate study completed on rats at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland showed that fructose can affect kidney sensors used for salt balance. As a result of the increased sensitivity, cells in the kidney reabsorb salt at an increased rate.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 20 million Americans over the age of 20 suffer from chronic kidney disease. Of that 20 million, 35 percent have diabetes, and 20 percent have hypertension.